When
the Peruvian Government ruled all the country’s population (around 30 million
people) should keep mandatory quarantine to avoid contagion because of
Covid-19, the new corona-virus’ strain, the bodybuilder and national champion
José el Churre Escobar figured out
that a way to stay in touch to the pupils of his gym, Lima, Peru-based Churretec, was through Facebook Live.
Every
night at 7:15 Peruvian Time (8:15 in New York, 5:15 in Los Angeles, 2:15 in
London), José shows a full class with some of his power routines. And if
somebody doesn’t reach to watch the live vvideo, the file remains available to
analyze it or download it later. And since Facebook allows comments, the people
can use this function to ask in case of doubts.
He’s
not the only trainer who has discovered the advantage of this social medium to
address his pupils and who wish to be. In Paita, Peru, Félix Oviedo (who we met
because his initiative to do aerobics at a local beach), has already come using
as a promotion tool for his gym, PerfectBody, that was good-embraced by his people around as well as the ones who
don’t live in his city.
At
least in Peru, the authorities have pointed out the discos and the gyms as the
places where the contagions seem to concentrate. They explained due to the
crowd in both spaces, especially youth who reported not to have any Covid-19
symptom came to infect each other, and when they carried it to their houses,
became to infect their whole family or their mates at the workplaces.
If
the authorities of your country or your state have explained the communitarian
infection of this kind of virus the same
way, it’s obvious to suppose when the quarantine ends, the gyms to be one of
the public spaces submitted to huge controls. If you work there, or even you
are the owner, you could face a closure if you don’t follow up the local rules
in a litteral way. The less, the inmediate one could be the apparel to be
further than 3 or 6 feet each other, or maybe the aerobics class to be the same
distance or upper. We have to stand by the rule to act.
Rather,
your tasks are basically two: to honor the rule and to reinventate yourself. In
the first case, it’s obvious that if they demand you to take away physically,
you have to choose sanity instead of attendance, maybe to be much strict in
times, maybe to experience economic loses while you replace in the market or
until the rule gets cancelled.
Your
way should be the replacement, a whole innovation plan in your business model
not only as a location but as a physical culture pro. The Félix & El Churre’s example is a choice you
could have in mind.
“But
nobody is going to pay me for making a live,” a Lima, Peru-based trainer comments.
Correct! And the same happens to the headlines at a newsstand: the people get
closer to read them and they don’t pay for them, but if the content results
them interesting, be sure they will buy indeed. Bingo! You have to do the same
– to present something interesting that calls the attention, that leaves the
feeling to want more in the people. Get
creative.
The Little in public, the whole in private
Maybe
you don’t have to show a full class. What about to webcast about 15 to 20
minutes? When the free time is over, you could say your audience something kind
like “thanks for joining me – if you want to know more about this routine,
write me or call me.” And here you can start up a business as a personal or
small groups trainer, whether your client’s house or your gym itself.
As
you know, this mode has become a profitable business, but look at the people
who will trend to hire a pro who doesn’t say only what exercise to do, how many
sets, how many reps. People would take advantage from you the most in every
session, so if you have a (real) certifycation
on nutrition, massages, advisory, or even other disciplines like yoga or
meditation, you have more market chances.
We
bet you know to cook. What about if after the routine, you take the
kitchen-room, and make something nutritive, or teach your pupil to learn making
it? And if you don’t know to cook, why don’t you ally to a restaurant business
that can provide your students with a healthy-food-based menu? You could offer
the full service and have a fee for recommending this or that restaurant. Yes,
in this time, the alliances will allow the survival of entreprenurships.
And
if the gym gets a smallest physical space, why not thinking of an outdoor trip
service like the countryside, the mountains, or the beach where you serve as a
guide, share connecting experiences to the Nature, and encourage your group to
work out cross-country or in the water? In the end, this could be a pretty
interesting entrepreneurship, that also offers a full experience to your pupil,
that shares on the social media. And that’s convenient to you as an
entrepreneur.
More public, more planned
Like
we advised it you when we talked about to build a possitive attitude or to get a
sponsor, we repeat you not to target only on the social media as promotion
tools for your or your gym. Try to get the attention of the mass-media by
proposing them an interesting project like advising on training or nutrition,
maybe writing an op-ed about that issue, or doing a photo shoot (like José
escobar’s provided to us for this story). Don’t wish to get money by that, have
it rather like advertising in your favor (keep sure your name is pretty visible
when the feature once gets published).
As we
said, the manthra in those times is getting creative not breaking the rules.
Rather, it’s about incorporating the rules for you to become an innovator. How
many money do you need? First, we should to outline your idea to see how much
resources you need. Having this clear, the next is to list what you have and
what you lack. The trick consists in optimizing what you already have for making it profitable and getting what you
lack, but you have to plan. If you don’t make this step, you’ll advance blind.
And
whenever, after Reading this, we will pleased to know what ideas come to your
mind and, why not, give them a space here. Remember you find us on our Twitter
account and on chulucanasgym@gmail.com
